Slippery Rock Gazette

Hueston will come to your facility, with very little disruption in daily activities, and offers shop and production evaluation to determine your customized training.

Hueston’s onsite training is tailored to individual shops, and allows fabricators to train with their own familiar tools and systems.

Fabricators– How many of you remember your first day in the shop? How many remember the hundreds of embarrassing, costly and mostly avoidable mistakes you’ve made while learning, and have tried to forget? Enter Fred Hueston — also known as Dr. Fred and as “The Stone Detective.”

Fred has been in stone fabrication close to 40 years, is well accredited for his vision and wisdom, and has written over 100 stories for the Slippery Rock Gazette. Fred is in the news himself, this time, as he offers a new service to the industry: on-site customized training.

Fred: “The reason for customized onsite training is simple. Many owners find it hard to send their employees away for training. It’s costly and difficult for employees to work with other people’s tools. But with in-house training, I can come to their facility, with very little disruption in their daily activities, and train them using their own equipment. On-site training saves a ton of money, too. They’re only paying for my expenses instead of the expenses of sending employees someplace distant. Airfare, motel and food are just a few areas where they’ll save.”

Is this new service in shop or installation training? 

Fred: “Actually, I am offering both, but installation is a big one. Many of the failures that we see in finished countertops are due to improper installations. My visit can consist of shop or onsite installation techniques from basic to advanced, individual or group.”

Where does the customized training come in? 

Fred: “What’s nice about my in-house training is that it truly is custom designed. What I mean by that is this: There are some fabricators who are comfortable with most aspects of fabrication and those who aren’t, such as doing repairs or surface polishing for countertops that were scratched during fabrication. Additionally, edge polishing can be difficult for newer employees. The beauty of a customized program is I first have a conversation with them to figure out their needs, and then custom tailor my visit. What are you having trouble with? Are you looking to train new craftsmen or train a specific employee to learn specific techniques? Things like shop and production evaluation that help achieve a better bottom line, are also part of the service. Lastly, you don’t have the downtime.”

Why offer this program now? 

Fred: “I have been training fabricators for over 20 years, and I can tell you that every shop I’ve visited, whether it’s a one man operation or a 100 man operation, in most cases, efficiency is not maximized. Many times, too, safety is not what it should be. Fabricators, in general, don’t see accidents waiting to happen — then, someone gets hurt. Not all shops have to spend money fixing these problems. They just need to utilize what they already have more safely and efficiently. 

“Additionally, my in-house training can really work for a company that wants more productivity, but doesn’t know how to get it. Some ask if they should move up to a CNC or water jet, and I simply respond, ‘Do you have the work to support this machinery?’ In these cases, I’ll do a payback analysis. Sometimes a CNC or water jet works, and sometimes not. I do avoid specifying brands, but I will give a company the guidelines necessary in choosing large machinery. Things like reliability, learning curve and how quickly the manufacturer responds with parts when something breaks, are vital criteria to consider.”  

The best way to contact Dr.  Fred is either by phone (321-514-6845) or by email to fhueston@gmail.com. “I don’t display at the shows, but regularly attend StonExpo and Coverings and will be walking around the Orlando show this April shaking hands and meeting people.”